User blog:Xaero Dumort/Fixes that could strengthen re-releases and the like.
As they say, "Hindsight is 20/20". That is true of many things in life. As an industry, developers can and will often look back at titles and lament about things that could have been fixed or changed. Usually with GotY releases or compilation releases, these same issues are ignored because there is no funding to improve or fix them. This is a series of things that in my opinion would guarantee another purchase from me in an anniversary edition. A business move I think would be very savvy to do before releasing new entries on the new console generation. I will present these game by game. Some will be simple, others more complex. I will try and justify them if I think they need to be in order for one to understand why I desire the fixes or changes. Mass Effect 1. Better loot tables. Loot tables should be affected not just by level, but by main story progression. This would help players feel more rewarded for playing and help balance. It would also prevent some insane players (me) from sinking over 100 hours into one character trying to get all of the gear they want. 2. Better merchants. Randomized merchant stock was fine. But if operating as the same as suggested loot progression and stock changing after every mission instead of story planet will give the player more reason to visit merchants, and help get value out of all those armory licenses. Up those chances of getting Rage/Berserk/Battlemaster and Phantom armor. 3. Restore missing armories. Mostly for the armor designs to add variety, partially for small bits of lore. If only a few, Cerberus Skunkworks, Hahne-Kedar Shadow Works and Batarian State Arms Mass Effect 2 1. Full arsenal capability. If I choose to play through the game enough times, regardless of my class, I should be able to get sniper/AR/shotgun training and the Widow/Revenant/Claymore. I understand to an extent why it isn't that way now, but it wouldn't have really been gamebreaking. Mass Effect 3 1. Importers from ME2 are short 2 points IIRC when hitting 60. (I've been told this is true for everyone though.) I'm not asking to max out my last ability, all I'm asking is to not have 3 unspendable points staring me in the face. http://youtu.be/es1vQl_S55Y?t=3s Either remove those points or give me a way to earn those 2 points. See addendum for my suggestion. 2. This one is a long one, to read my diatribe on it, I refer you to the second point of my blog post, Synthetics as applied to the ending. I feel like it would have help at least some of the issues many had with how the ending choices were handled. 3. Citadel DLC. OK so this is one thing that I really expect most of everyone to disagree with. I feel a major opportunity was missed concerning the villain of choice for the DLC. Spoilers ahoy. Clone Shepard was a bit cheesy. Personally I think it should have been a clone or clone-cyborg of the Virmire sacrifice. It could have been explained just as the clone was, a back-up plan to resurrecting Shepard. Someone who worked with them, had similar goals and drive. The emotional resonance would have been incredible. Forcing Shepard (and to a smaller degree, members of the old team) to really confront all of their decisions in this war as the face of the one person they couldn't save. It would have meant more VO for the DLC, but the vibe that would have occurred would have been surreal. People playing other files they hadn't touched just to get a taste of it with the other sacrifice. The turmoil the sacrifice would have in hating that they were left behind, but the understanding that Shepard couldn't have saved them. Knowing they sacrificed themselves, but hoping in the back of their mind even a little, that it wouldn't be the end, Shepard would find a way. That said, the story and how it was working would have remained largely the same. They could have even (with granted a bit of work) make the whole Spectre thing still work. Addendum - Mass Effect 2 2. Re-adjust Mordin's abilities so he starts with Cryo Blast instead of Incinerate. Unlock Incinerate at Cryo Blast 2. This would only really help those who play as Engineers or Infiltrators as Incinerate is readily available to them and I would have preferred a Mordin who could use maxed Cryo Blast, maxed class, and maxed Neural Shock. So while I don't like it, I can live with it. Mass Effect 3 1A. Nightmare sequences. They were stupid and boring. Destroyed the pacing and didn't have any impact emotionally for the player. The only one to even come close is the third dream where Shepard and the boy are on fire, though I don't remember exactly how many there were. IIRC and there were three, then the first two should have been a two part dream sequence mission. Simple and short, they should have been quick (15-20 minute) sequences where a player relives the pivotal moment of their psychological profile. That's something that I had always thought would be fun to experience. Ruthless? Relive making the decision to get 3/4 of your unit killed (Dream 1) and killing surrendering batarians (Dream 2). You can still have Paragon/Renegade decisions and moments, because it is a dream you can decide if Shepard made the right choices the first time or if they wish they hadn't killed the surrendering batarians. What about Major Kyle and how this event effected him? War Hero? Fight the waves of slavers single handedly or work with your squad to exterminate the slavers at the risk to the colonists lives? What if you had been able to take out more slaves and stop Elanos Haliat sooner? Sole Survivor? Do you fight hard and watch as you survive the Thresher Maw attack unable to save your squad or do you risk yourself to make sure they survive? What about making sure if everyone is dead and helping ensure Toombs isn't left behind and tortured by Cerberus scientists? At the end of each half you get one additional squad point for yourself. This could fix the extra 3 points. Honestly I've only really thought about Ruthless as it is what I play as, so other suggestions about how to go about this for other psyches would be welcome. 4. This is purely cosmetic, why is it in ME2 full masks had a light flash at the jaw to show talking but not in ME3? It was a neat effect that should have been kept in. The recon hood and Nightmare armor are good examples where flashing jawline lights would have really helped. 5. Weapons. First, give me a way to pick up an M-3 Predator so I can max it to X. It should have been in one of the DLCs, lying on the ground ready to be picked up. I think it would have been perfect to find one in Dr Bryson's lab. Second, every weapon I picked up in ME2 (that is in ME3), should have been given to me after completing Mars. They should have been in the ships storage locker and part of the reward for importing. And the weapons level should have increased by 1 for each upgrade found for that weapon class in ME2. Got all possible 9 upgrades for the Assault Rifle? Then your Vindicator, Avenger, Pulse Rifle, Revenant, Collector Rifle, and Mattock should have all been level 10. This would have helped greatly in leveling all weapons (and future DLC ones) by cutting down how many credits you would have to spend. 6. Citadel DLC armor. They didn't all have to look the same. They could have all borrowed from Cerberus/multiplayer looks to help make them different. The assets were there and would have only taken some tweaks. Shade - Male ~ Dragoon, Female ~ N7 Shadow/Phantom (as is). Spirit - Male ~ Centurion, Female ~ N7 Fury. Nightmare - Male ~ N7 Slayer/Kai Leng (as is), Female ~ Nemesis. I also would have preferred N7 logos and repaints instead of having Cerberus logos and colors. That's something they could have written away why having the repaints in the letters when Shepard gets the armors. 6A. Allow earning of all 3 armors across multiple playthroughs. So that's all I can think of right now. Opinions on other things that should be added or changed (that don't warp the series to a large degree) are very welcome as well as civil discussion as to why one or more of these is not necessary. Category:Blog posts